Baker Mayfield As 'The Guy' Central To Bucs Super Bowl Debate

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were staring quarterback purgatory right in the face when Tom Brady retired, as the franchise had come off a couple of successful seasons that saw it win a Super Bowl.

As we see sometimes, franchises can bottom out, and the Buccaneers, at that stage, didn't have a quarterback - enter Baker Mayfield.

Not seen as "the" guy initially, Mayfield had to beat out Kyle Trask for the starting role, which he did. What has followed in the ensuing two seasons has been back-to-back division titles, playoff appearance and Pro Bowl nods for the franchise and Mayfield.

Last season was his best-ever year. Under Liam Coen, Baker totaled 4,500 passing yards and 41 touchdowns, establishing himself as one of the better quarterbacks in the conference.

For former Tampa Bay legend and Hall of Famer Ronde Barber, the franchise's success over the last two seasons would not have happened without Mayfield.

“Baker’s really showed that he can be the guy,” Barber said via forbes.com. “They’ve been fortunate that they have Baker Mayfield and the dynamic offense. They can go out and score points and keep them in games. Otherwise, they're not winning.”

Fans (and especially media) can debate this. But as Tampa Bay dreams of a Super Bowl ... the numbers tell the tale.

Scoring points hasn't been an issue for the Buccaneers (29.5 p/g last season) with Mayfield steering the franchise to the playoffs. 

Now coming back for a third season with a third different offensive coordinator, Baker will again be tasked with leading the Bucs to a fifth straight division title and another playoff berth.

He has the weapons to do it, and with Haason Reddick signed in free agency and the thought Tampa Bay will go defensively heavy in the draft, maybe Todd Bowles' unit will catch up to the offense and have the Buccaneers playing a well-rounded brand of football.

Does the Buccaneers' recent success happen without Mayfield? There's a good case to be made that it doesn't.